Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino has spoken about his squad’s injury troubles so early in the season.

The Blues spent huge money during the Summer transfer window bringing in young talents trying to rebuild the team. Unfortunately a number of them have fallen to the sidelines due to injuries.

In his latest media briefing, Pochettino was asked about not playing in the Champions League, to which he joked: “In the circumstances, it’s better for us as we have 11/12 injured players.

“The squad is very short at the moment. But obviously, the objective for Chelsea is always to be in the competition.

“We are going to face Bournemouth with 14/15 players. Now it is important to recover players to be more competitive.”

Pochettino further updated on individual players form.

On James: “He is recovering well. I cannot say if he’s close or not as we assess everyday. He’s really well. He is desperate to help the team again. I hope that it is close and he can be available before the next international break.”

On Lavia: “We’re really disappointed because he was training really well. In the international break, he twisted his ankle. We hope it’s not a big issue. It’s a sad situation because he was nearly fit to be involved. We don’t know how long he’ll be out for. We need to assess.”

On Fernandez, Caicedo: “Today he was in good mood and energy. He scored against Bolivia. He is in a very good mood. I think he will be ready. Moises we need to assess as he was a little bit later, but we hope, yes.”

Broja, Badiashile: “No, not yet [available].”

The Blues are also without Chalobah, Chukwuemeka, Fofana, Bettinelli and Nkunku.